


The Other Half

by thecaptainrabbit



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Character Death, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:14:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28939080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecaptainrabbit/pseuds/thecaptainrabbit
Summary: What if the other half of the marvel universe had been the half that died?  What if Bucky had to watch Steve die?  What if Wanda lived?  What if Tony did not?  Two chapter one shot (probably).
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Wakanda

**Author's Note:**

  * For [madness_on_the_milano](https://archiveofourown.org/users/madness_on_the_milano/gifts).



Two steps. He had been late by two steps. Thor leapt into the air, having become aware just a moment too late of the threat that had arrived. In the intensity of the battle for Wakanda, he’d forgotten he hadn’t been on his fellow Avengers’ com line. After so many years away from Earth, he had forgotten the once familiar voices he heard cracking jokes and barking orders over the team’s communicators. By the time his newfound ‘rabbit’ friend had managed to inform him of Thanos’ arrival, he could see the Mad Titan using the Time Stone to reverse Wanda and the Vision’s sacrifice. Now rising above the dense foliage, the Asgardian glared down upon the man, nay, the **monster** responsible for the deaths of so many of his friends and family, and with a great battle cry he blasted the Titan with all the lighting he could muster. Thanos stumbled back, unused to his newly bestowed godhood, but still strong enough to withstand even Storm Breaker’s level of power. With his love, his anger, and all of his sorrow, Thor bellowed and threw the axe toward his foe. The Titan fired a blast of his own in retaliation, but the Uru steel overcame even the Infinity Stones, and with a thunderclap Storm Breaker sank deep into the strongest being in the universe.

Thor landed upon the ground, pleased to see his attack had succeeded, but not yet satisfied. Thanos looked at the blade buried deep inside his chest in a mix of disbelief and horror. For all his unrelenting power, he had been brought down by the King he had left for dead alongside his brother. He fell to one knee in pain and shock, clutching the blade but unable to muster the strength to pull it out. Thor walked slowly toward him, eyes, cybernetic or not, burning with fury. Behind him, Rocket ran over to Groot, helping his son stand up from Thanos’ assault on the heroes. Within the clearing, Steve and Bucky slowly began to stand up, while T’Challa walked, steadly so as not to fall, to the assistance of his retainer, Okoye. Rhodey began to help Natasha get out from beneath the stones she had been pinned under by Thanos, while Bruce tried to remove the Hulkbuster from the hillside. The Avengers would be back on their feet and ready to fight in a matter of minutes, time that Thanos didn’t have. As he looked into the eyes of the Asgardian that had brought him so low, he began to feel great fear. Even if he could heal himself from the severe wound he had received, it would be difficult, even with the Stones, to best Thor fighting alongside the other heroes. His despairing thoughts were suddenly cut short by excruciating pain, as Thor forced the axe deeper into the Titan’s chest.

“I told you you’d die for that,” the Thunder God growled, practically spitting the words at Thanos. The Mad Titan cried out in agony, realizing he couldn’t count on even being given the opportunity to heal himself. But as that thought entered his mind, the Mad Titan remember that his goal was not to kill the Avengers. He didn’t need to win this fight. And as he realized the fatal error Thor had made, he almost chuckled, and began to mutter the words he knew would haunt the short remainder of the Asgardian’s life. 

“You should have gone for the _head_.” Thor’s face of rage turned to confusion, but as he saw his enemy lift the gauntlet and prepare to use the stones, the hero’s face turned to one of sheer terror. “No!

____

__***snap* ******__

__******** _ _

Everything went white. Thor squinted, blinking as his eyes adjusted and the flash faded away. His gaze met Thanos’, who seemed just as awed as he was, and then he looked down at the gauntlet. Thanos’ arm had seared and scarred by the unfathomable power he had just wielded, and the gauntlet itself seemed almost damaged beyond repair. The use of the stones had taken the Titan almost all he had. 

“What did you do?” the Avenger asked in horror, his eyes darting back to Thanos. “What did you do?!"

But before he could force the madman to answer him, Thanos clenched his charred fist, and a portal opened behind him. The Titan was pulled back into the abyss created by the Space Stone, leaving Storm Breaker behind. As the axe dropped to the ground, Captain America hobbled to his teammate, who looked at his weapon in disbelief.

“Where’d he go?” Steve asked, clutching his side, full of panic.

“Thor, where’d he go?” 

Thor looked up at his friend, unable to speak for a moment, before looking down at his own arm in shock. At the tips of Thor’s fingers, dust was forming. As the wind carried it away, the fingers disappeared with it, and as Thor’s hand and arm began to vanish, Thor turned to Steve. 

“I don’t know,” was all he could muster. “I’m sorry, my friend.” Steve looked on in disbelief as the rest of his teammate’s body turned to ash in the wind, his axe being all that was left. 

“Steve?” The captain turned to face his oldest friend. “Bucky,” the Avenger whispered, his own body beginning to turn to dust as well. 

“Steve!” Bucky yelled as he ran as fast as he could to his friend, trying desperately to do something, anything, for the little punk kid from Brooklyn he’d tried so hard to protect. But there was nothing he could do to stop this, no way to save his oldest friend. All he could do was watch as his hands slipped through Steve’s own, and Captain America ceased to be.

Shuri slowly made her way to the massive window overseeing the great city of Wakanda. After narrowly surviving her encounter with an outrider thanks to the assistance of Vision, the Princess was full of fear and adrenaline, but she knew she would have to see the state of the battle for herself. To her horror, what she bore witness to was the death of half of the Wakandan army. As she watched, finding herself unable to look away, she understood that the heroes had failed, and that the world would never be the same. 

Her brother T’Challa, however, unaware of the fate of his army and allies, made his way to Okoye, reaching for her hand to help her up. “Up, General, up. This is no place to-” but his reassuring words were cut short by the sight of his companion’s body rapidly turning to ash. 

“Kumkani...” (My King...) the great leader of the Dora Milaje managed to say, before crumbling to dust. As T’Challa stared at the place his dear friend once lay, he began to shake with grief and rage, realizing what this sudden disappearance signified. He fell to his knees, cursing Thanos’ name in his native tongue of Xhosa before standing up, stepping out of the forest to see his soldiers fall one by one on the battlefield. He looked on as even the great Jabari warrior M’Baku turned to dust in the wind. And as the King of Wakanda witnessed the greatest tragedy his people had ever faced, he did not cry for those he had lost, but feared for those he had not.

Rocket watched as the heroes around him began to turn to dust in horror. The Procyonid had been helping Groot up when he saw Thor and Steve vanish before his very eyes. As he tried to understand what was happening, he saw Natasha turn to dust while Rhodey attempted to help her up, before Rhodey began to call out for Sam, running to where the Falcon had fallen. That’s when it hit the Guardian that Thanos had succeeded, and that anyone else could be the next to disappear. 

“Groot,” Rocket whispered, almost afraid to speak for fear of his worst fear becoming a reality, before raising his voice. ‘Groot!” 

The raccoon-like being looked to Groot, terrified that his son would be next, but as his eyes met the tree’s, he realized that Groot’s expression wasn’t one of fear, but of sadness. 

“I am Groot?” 

Rocket looked down to see his arm had already begun to fade, and that he was mere seconds away from becoming dust. He looked back into his son’s eyes, seeing tears welling up in them. 

“I am Groot?!” the teenaged Flora Colossus asked fearfully. Rocket gulped, his voice catching in his throat, knowing how frightened his son must be. 

“It’s gonna be okay, Groot. You’ll be fine.” 

Groot shook his head. “I am Groot!” He rushed to his father’s side and held him tightly, tears now streaming down his wooden face. Rocket hugged his son back, his own eyes starting to brim with tears, and he began to speak, desperately trying to assuage his son's fear. 

“It’ll be okay, Groot. The others are gonna come to get you. Don’t worry about Dad. Stay with the guy with the robot arm until Quill and Gamora come, okay? Dad’s gonna be fine. I lov-” 

And with that, he was gone. As Rocket spoke his last words of assurance, Groot sobbed, now truly alone on an unfamiliar world.

Cradling the body of her lover, Wanda Maximoff looked on as heroes vanished one after the other. Through eyes blinded by tears, she watched her friends turn to dust in the wind, and as she held the Vision in her arms, she wished to join them, to join _him _. But as time continued to pass, and Wanda remained intact, it slowly became apparent to the Scarlet Witch that she would not be dying this day. She found herself as part of the half that lived, when she had yearned to be part of the half that did not.__

____

____

“Dammit! Why? Why do I always lose the people I love most?” She thought back to her parents, her brother, and to Vision. She was so tired, just so tired of losing the ones she loved. 

“I just want to die! Why can’t I die?!” 

“Wanda?” 

Bruce’s voice cut through the witch’s anguish, and as she turned to face him, Wanda saw that he was slowly fading away too. 

“I know what it’s like to want that, but you have to keep living, not just for the ones you have left, but for yourself.” 

She reached up to hold the Doctor’s hand as he began fading faster. “I can’t live for myself yet,” she said, her hand just barely reaching his in time. “But can live for them.” 

__Bruce smiled, content that he could be a comfort in his final moments, and Wanda wiped her eyes as he turned to nothing but ash. She looked back at Vision, her eyes no longer filled with despair, but instead determination. “I’ll keep living, Vis. I’ll keep living.”_ _

____

____

Natasha’s last words hadn’t been panicked or jumbled. The instant she saw what was happening to Steve and Thor, even before she knew she would swiftly meet the same fate, she told Rhodey to find Sam. 

“He crashed somewhere in the brush. If he’s hurt, we need to treat him,” she said, looking down at her legs, now seeing that she too would soon disappear. “Hurry, Rhodey!” 

Rhodey shook his head. “I can’t just leave you here to die alone!” 

“There’s nothing you can do for me! But it might not be too late for Sam.” Natasha’s voice was suddenly choked up. The seemingly fearless assassin dropping her tone to a whisper. “Please, Rhodey.” 

Rhodey, wiped his eyes and nodded. “I’ll find him. I promise.” 

The Avenger held her hand tightly in his before letting go and starting to run towards the brush. 

“Sam, where you at?!” he called out, hoping that his friend was still conscious. From the tall grass he heard the faint sound of grunting, and upon taking a closer look, he saw the tip of a wing. 

“Sam!” Rhodey yelled, rushing to his friend’s side, but he stumbled as his right leg began to turn to dust. 

“Ugghhh… Rhodes? Is that you?” 

“Sam, you alright?” the War Machine responded, trying to inch close on one leg. 

“Rhodey? Yeah, I’m fine. You okay?” the Falcon asked, starting to stand up only to recoil at the sight of his teammate, now half turned to dust. 

“I found you.” Rhodey said. “And you’re okay. That’s what matters.” 

“Oh my God, what happened?” Sam asked. 

“We lost.” Rhodes answered, as he vanished from existence. “But you’re okay. That counts for something.” Sam stood up slowly, looking around to see who had survived. In his head was but one thought.

_Who else did we lose?_


	2. Titan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The snap reaches the distant planet of Titan, and two heroes pay the price

Titan

Tony Stark struggled to stand. Star Lord helped him to his feet, mindful of the recent stab wound the Avenger had sustained while battling Thanos alone. The half-Terran looked to his teammates, still in disbelief that they had lost. After Thanos had fled Titan with the Time Stone, Drax and Mantis had gotten to their feet, with Spider-Man and Nebula making their way back to group up near Tony. However, as the group began to gather together, they heard a faint rumble, like the very end of a thunderclap. Quill looked up to see no storm clouds overhead, but an empty orange sky. Mantis, however, could tell something much worse was responsible for the noise. Her empathic senses typically required touch, but for a second, she swore she could feel immense sorrow and fear, spreading across space and time, engulfing all that is.

“Something is happening.”

No sooner than the empath had spoken than Nebula clutched her chest, looking down in disbelief as her mechanical arm began to turn to dust. The others looked on, horrorstruck, as the rest of her body started to disappear. With eyes not full of fear, but rather resigned to her fate, Nebula looked to Mantis and spoke three words as she faded to nothingness.

“He did it.”

As the remains of the last child of Thanos blew away in the wind, the remaining Guardians each began checking their own bodies for signs of turning to dust. After making sure he was intact, Quill began to look for signs of Drax or Mantis becoming ash. He had seen Thanos use the Reality Stone on his friends before, but what had happened to Nebula was nothing like that. She hadn’t been altered; she had been erased. He wasn’t sure if there was anything they could do, but if Nebula was right, then he was to blame. If Thanos really had killed half the universe, the blame fell on his shoulders for ruining the plan. But as Peter Quill found no signs of him or his friends turning to dust, he breathed a sigh of relief. He could only pray that Rocket and Groot had been as lucky.

Stark, on the other hand, reached for Dr. Strange. With what strength he could muster, he grabbed the Cloak of Levitation and pulled the Sorcerer Supreme up by his collar. He glared at him, infuriated by Strange’s willingness to give Thanos the Stone now that he knew for a fact the snap had succeeded.

“Is this it? Is this the one where we win?” Tony said, hoping against all logic that Strange would say yes.

Strange’s eyes were full of regret. He reached for Tony’s arms to pull them off of his cloak, but his hand tremors refused him the strength to remove them.

“It was supposed to be. The stones were supposed to allow Nebula to live, but not the others… or me.”

“Then I’m supposed to survive? Is that why you asked Thanos to spare me?”

“Mr. Stark?”

Peter Parker’s timid voice cut through Tony’s rage. He looked down at his hands that had been clenching Strange so tightly as they began to billow away. The armor was taking some time for the snap to destroy, but it didn’t change the truth. Tony Stark would soon be dead.

“Mr. Stark! Sir, please don’t go!” Peter rushed to his mentor’s side as Strange fell from Tony’s fading hands. The guardians moved closer but kept enough distance to not crowd the clearly upset teen. Quill cursed himself mentally, knowing that this death was on his hands too.

“Sir please! I don’t want you to go!” Peter cried, hugging Tony tightly as the armored avenger began to grasp the teen by the shoulders.

“Kid. Hey, kid. Pete!” Stark shouted over Peter’s sobbing. Peter stepped back, looking his mentor in the eyes. 

“You’re gonna be fine. You’ll find a way to fix all of this, I know you will.”

“But Tony-” Peter began, but he was cut off by Tony pulling him in for a hug. Even with his arms beginning to fade entirely, Stark hugged Peter as tightly as he could. “I made you an Avenger for a reason. I believe in you, Peter.” And as Peter cried, holding tightly to his childhood hero, Tony Stark became but dust in the wind.

Peter fell to the ground, clenching his fists so hard he could barely feel them. The tears running down his face refused to stop, and as the boy felt the immense sorrow and hopelessness of reality sink in, he screamed on word.

“Tony!” he cried as he slammed his fist into the ground below him, sending a tremor through the dirt and shattering the stone the others stood upon. The Guardians, steadying themselves, looked away, not wanting to see the upbeat Spider-Man grieving like this. Dr. Strange pulled himself closer, slowly standing up with assistance from his cloak.  
After a few minutes, Peter looked up at Stephen, wiping his eyes. “What are we supposed to do?” the boy asked, his voice hoarse from sobbing. “How are we supposed to win without Tony?” Strange said nothing, his mind thinking back to the moment he gave up the Time Stone. The future he had seen... in that version of events, the opposite group of people had lived while the other half had died. In this new timeline, without Tony, not to mention Rocket and Bruce, could they invent the time machine they would need after Thanos destroyed the stones? Without Natasha and Clint’s sacrifice, could they retrieve the Soul Stone from the past? Without Thor and Captain Marvel’s immense power, could they defeat a past version of Thanos? Without Scott Lang’s inspiration for the time heist? Without Steve Roger’s leadership?

Strange looked to the Guardians. He saw in them uncertainty, trepidation. They worried for their allies they had not seen since the snap and feared that they may have truly lost Nebula and any other victims of Thanos forever. He could tell they were as nervous about his answer as Spider-Man was. But as he looked down at the young Avenger, he didn’t see fear in Peter’s eyes. In fact, he almost seemed beyond even sorrow. For an instant, all he saw on the boy’s face was determination, a complete unwillingness to give up. Even through his teary eyes, Peter looked as though he didn’t want reassurance that Tony could be saved, but instructions on how to save him. 

“Can we save Tony?”

And for a moment, even Strange was convinced of the words he spoke.

“We will. Absolutely.”

The Sorcerer Supreme looked to the Guardians. He saw in Peter Quill's face regret and self-hatred. Clearly, he blamed himself for the snap. But Strange knew he was to blame as well. He had bet that Stark and Nebula would survive, but he had been wrong. He'd called heads, but the coin had come up tails. But the doctor knew it was useless to point fingers. No one knows for certain which side a tennis ball that has hit the net will fall on until it reaches the ground. All anyone can do is work with what they have. And as Strange looked at who he still had left, he knew he could certainly make do.

"We'll save all of them. Whatever it takes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for reading. I know this chapter is a bit short but I wanted to leave what happens next a bit open ended in case I make a sequel. Thank you for all the support, and please leave a comment if you think there's something I should do better!


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